Avery ups production and switches distributors in advance of new brewery

Avery Brewing hopes to seal the deal this month on the 5.6-acre parcel in north Boulder where it plans to build a 30,000-square-foot brewery, restaurant and gift shop. Once it opens, in mid-2014, the compound at 4910 and 4920 Nautilus Court will allow Avery to brew 100,000 barrels of beer in the first year and eventually up to 350,000 barrels annually. (By contrast, Avery will make 43,000 barrels in 2012, up 20 percent over 2011.)

In the meantime, though, Avery has reorganized and updated its existing brewery to keep up with demand. It has also switched distributors in Colorado and temporarily ceased distribution in Minnesota until it can build the new facility.

The changes are a result of the brewery's rapid growth and the fact that it has outgrown the business park where it was founded in 1993, according to spokesman Joe Osborne. "Essentially, we are having to re-evaluate everything," he says. By rearranging, the brewery could produce up to 65,000 barrels in 2013 if it needed to.

To handle increased production, the brewery has also switched distributors in Colorado, from CR Goodman to Beverage Distributors Company, which runs Apex Distributing Company, Pinnacle Distributing Company and Summit Distributing Company.

That change is going to "turn on the switch in Colorado," Osborne says. "We like CR Goodman, but we got to the point where we were growing so fast that we need a distributor that can handle that volume and add a lot more distribution points."

Avery is also pulling out of Minnesota. "Until we finish our new brewery, we're forced to limit our markets," says brewery sales director Ted Whitney in a statement from Avery. "When we do come back to Minnesota -- and we will -- it will be with quality rep support, tons of fresh beer and even more tons of excitement to be drinking with those guys again."

Avery first announced its plans for a new campus in October 2011, but that project has been delayed by zoning and other site-specific issues. Osborne says the purchase should be completed by the end of 2012, and construction could start as early as January.

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